s.cape - Design for the Vision of a Service Station and Rest Area at Irschenberg

This diploma thesis deals with the topic of a highway rest area with a gas station at Irschenberg. The focus of the design task is the integration of technical infrastructure into the landscape and the process-oriented formulation of the building components and their arrangement under functional conditions. During my architecture studies, I had the opportunity to switch to the industrial design program for one year. My interest in this was sparked during the Object and Product Design module at the Institute for Art and Design. I regard this influence as crucial for the combination of rational and intuitive design methods applied in the design process. The proximity to physical design tools and representations should never be abandoned during the project, but rather used to achieve a step-by-step formulation of the task. In doing so, engagement with the materials used, their properties, and resistances should contribute significantly to the design process. The automobile is commonly regarded as a symbol of industrial design and stands out today among all modes of transportation due to its significance, as individual mobility (still) is seen as a characteristic of modern society. Initially a byproduct of mass motorization in the 1930s, vehicle-serving, -housing, or -presenting buildings have established themselves in urban and landscape imagery over the following decades. Even though architectural expectations have steadily increased, only a few prominent architects have taken on or been allowed to take on the task of gas station design. In his book "How to Design a Successful Petrol Station," Marcello Minale describes the circumstances from his perspective:

»So, who are the people who can design petrol stations? In my opinion architects are not the best people since they lean towards grandiose statements not suited to a large-scale roll out. There are few consultancies which have developed the skill that combines brand identity, graphics, industrial design, landscape design, retail design, signage and most recently, multimedia design.«

The very transfer of a fixed design to global perspectives – its reproduction – carries the risk of neglecting an architectural contextualization of the building. The lack of engagement with the specifics of architecture, the interplay of built elements and the surrounding or inscribed space, led, at least on a typological level – without delving into cultural or social aspects – to mere technical adjustments and variations of the pattern building concepts from the 1930s. The further motorization during the years of economic recovery after World War II resulted in a scaling-up of these concepts, driven by excessive cost-efficiency thinking, which in turn led to a disproportionate scale through foreign and monstrously appearing roof structures.

Based on the analysis of various mobility scenarios (with real-world relevance) for Europe, particularly Germany, I decided to take a moderately positive scenario as a starting point for the search for an interesting but also problem-laden location. In the mentioned scenario, the expansion of the highway network seems unavoidable due to the rapidly growing freight traffic and the widening radius of the population (especially in relation to vacation traffic), despite accelerated technological change and the expansion of public transportation services in prospering urban areas. Therefore, I opted for a suburban location on a highway, without ignoring the devastating urban planning impacts of the automobile in the past or the numerous opportunities for architectural influence in the future.

Even without knowledge of the historical context, the numerous round trips from my hometown Munich on the German autobahn A8 – initially to the Alps and later, for study reasons, to Vienna – already fascinated me. It was probably the memorable route as well as the lasting landscape impressions that motivated me to take on a design task along the stretch between Salzburg and Munich. Especially at Irschenberg, one-third of the way from Munich to Salzburg, travelers are presented with a vast view of the Alpine panorama. The decision for Irschenberg was also influenced by the fact that this location, due to the steep incline of the highway, has often been mentioned in the press as a hotspot for accidents, as well as due to the construction of a much-criticized fast food restaurant. The discrepancy between the topography of the foothills of the Alps, the placement of a traffic-related structure, and the dynamics of the highway forms the framework within which this study unfolds as an architectural vision.